Tag: love

Split red lentils cook in just 10 minutes and are an awesome source of iron, protein, fiber, and disease fighting properties. And to me, they almost take like cheese! Ugh so GOOD! I make a different version of this soup at least every week lately. Broccoli and onions one day. Zucchini and mushrooms another. The ginger, turmeric though. So divine. Give this a try!

The Hero Pot

A large pot

1 red onion

2 garlic cloves

1 small chunk of ginger

1 tbsp ground or fresh turmeric

1 sweet potato

1 cup red lentils

~6 cups filtered water

~1/2 cup broccoli

~1/2 cup celery

~1/2 cup mushrooms

~1/2 cup peas

Lime and avocado to garnish

Prep ingredients: chop vegetables, mince garlic + ginger

Sautee onions and garlic in pot in 1/3 cup of water (keep a jug of water nearby to add as needed)

Add turmeric, lentils, sweet potato, and 5 cups of water and bring to boil for about 10 minutes

Turn down heat to simmer and add in rest of ingredients to simmer for about 15 minutes

Ahh hemp seeds! One of the most nutrient dense little foods out there. With anti-inflammatory omegas, packed with protein and iron. Look out world hemp milk is going to make a lean mean hulk outta you! 1 cup of this milk recipe has got about:

When I come home from school, mom knows I’ll be asking for her chili and cornbread. Yesterday, I had fun helping her make it. When my dad got home from work, he started stirring the pot, too. A memory I will never forget. A bowl of chili is more than a bowl of chili, it is comfort, love, and a healthy meal for strength and vitality. Enjoy ❤

Habits are everything. Let’s make a list of the habits we are proud of and a list of the habits we are not so proud of. This year, continue to build those constructive actions that make you happy. Here, you will find inspiration for good habits to make, and how to work on them.

1. Wake up with an intention -Will it be gratitude and happiness or complaining and dismay today? The choice is yours. Make the decision, and set an intention to stick to. Make it a habit to wake up like this.

2. Spend time with loved ones – Let’s put an end to the habit of blowing people off for work. Love and love and nothing else, is all we need. Workaholics (like myself) are prone to opting out of quality time. This year, put love on top.

3. Have Fun – What do you absolutely LOVE to do? Are you doing it? Like, ever? Well, you should be! This life is too short to not do what makes us happy. Get in the habit of committing some time to fuel your fun. Trust me, it’ll make it easier to focus in the long run.

4. Turn around the negativity – Beautiful people are having complainy conversations these days, so let’s put an end to it. Next time someone complains to you, it is important to be empathetic, yes, but it is also important to recognize the good in life. Try not to let the complainers bring you down. Even worse is negative self-talk. We are all guilty of telling ourselves we suck now and then. Let’s consciously make it a habit to notice the negativity and turn it around.

I know, Black Bean Brownies?! EW Right?! I was honestly really nervous about these but they ended up being WAY BETTER than ANY BROWNIE EVER!

I just had an incredible gluten free vegan dinner date with three of the sweetest dietetics students! They LOVED these brownies that Chef AJ inspired me to make. Want delicious food that you can eat eat eat and still be slim and feel amazing after? Well Chef AJ and Registered Dietitian Julieanna Hever have got the recipes you need! These are so decadent and moist. I recommend serving with cold banana nice cream. Fresh brownies out the oven, fresh frozen bananas on top. OOoo baby you gotta try this!!

These brownies are REAL FOOD! None of this refined flours, sugars or oils making you go crazy. These are virtually fat free with a great source of omega-3 essential fatty acids from the flax. I love the stable blood sugar keeping me fueled with carbs that are mixed with vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Black beans- great source of protein and iron. Oatmeal is basically the cholesterol sucker. Dates- the potassium and fiber filled candy. And antioxidant rich cocoa?! Heck- I’ll eat the whole &^%^& pan!!!

(I just threw all of the ingredients into my friends Ninja food processor, but I’m sure doing it this way would work well to ensure smoothness)

Grind oatmeal in a food processor until smooth

Add dates and black beans until smooth, adding in water or non-dairy milk if necessary to create a smooth, well blended consistency

Add in the ground oats and the rest of the ingredients except optional topping and blend until smooth

EAT ENTIRE BOWL OF BROWNIE BATTER

..just kidding..well, you could! Haha for brownies though: Spread brownie batter into a parchment paper lined, or sprayed with cooking spray, brownie pan and sprinkle chocolate chips or nuts on top. Nuts would have also been really good folded throughout the batter for a nice crunch

I was beyond inspired by my Medical Nutrition Therapy class today! We started getting into Nutritional Counseling. The number one skill that is VERY important?! LISTENING.

I have worked for Holistic Health and Nutritional Counselor, Christine Lucas, who has already taught me a lot about this, how to listen and importance of relating to a client. I also thought of team meetings at the Organic Garden Cafe where we go through a “clearing” where you say what you are present to and fully listen to, and repeat back, what the person says to you. So I thought I had ample practice in this topic…until…

We learned about the importance of empathy. Going into this lecture thinking I wouldn’t learn anything, and leaveing surprised and excited. This video hit it home for me. I realized that I am not at all empathetic. Before this lecture, I thought that looking on the bright side and staying positive was helpful, but I was very wrong!

Staying positive is obviously a good thing, but connecting with others and making a connection is even better. Having the ability to listen and understand, relate, and connect, is very important for the nutritional counselor.

I am the kind of person who will listen to someone’s sob story, and say, “Well, at least you made your bed this morning” and call it a day! I am terrible! Just like the animal eating a sandwich in that video (which you must watch in order to understand what empathy really is)! After watching that video in class and being excited about being an empathetic person, about 2 hours later my friend Grace sitting next to me says, “Urgh, I am so tired and hungry.” I literally replied instantly. “Well, at least you look good.” and then I was like DAMNIT!

I can’t believe it! I am so relieved that at least I am aware of my terrible tendencies. It is annoying to me, having a great day and then having to be brought down by other peoples problems. But it is a skill that I am ready and willing to practice! From this day forth, I will reply to Gracie with a, “I know how you feel.” In fact, I was definately there yesterday. I patted her on the back and apologized. I am so thankful for my education today! I have grown so much, and am still growing 🙂 Much love superheroes!

It’s funny when people ask me, oh are you still talking to so and so? Because in my head sometimes I hear it as, : Like wait do you have friends anymore?

Recently, I don’t mind this question. I am too inspired. I just want to wake up and accomplish my goals. I am a beast at blowing people off …

I feel like I am consumed in an unhealthy relationship with a boyfriend who takes up all my time so I never see my friends anymore, but I don’t have a boyfriend…

Funny how I love accomplishing goals and being inspired. In the back of my mind I have always thought things like, “aww I really want to be able to do a backflip before I die” (accomplished with senior year varsity cheerleading OW OW!!! WORKED MY @$$ OFF!!) or “I really want to be able to just run up a tree and do a back flip” here’s a list of the aspirations following my main goal of becoming a superhero:

I really want to go to “Conscious Eating”’s author Gabriel Cousens’s retreat in Arizona, Tree of Life

I really want to go to Hippocrates in florida and see them cure cancer

I really want to jump off really high cliffs and not be scared

Do 3 pull ups

Things like that. Being a strong superhero. Getting better at the activities I enjoy. Looking fear in the face, loving challenges. Another disease, another challenge for the unstoppable ME.

I would fall asleep thinking about these aspirations of mine. Getting excited about all the things I would do… once I got my degree. Because that’s what you do after high school. You go to college. So I was excited to study dietetics, nutrition, fitness, and health at Purdue! Where I have been a pretty good wanna-be superhero 🙂 .. anyways..

When the superhero goal became a fuzzy glimpse in the distance, the universe sent me the most compassionate lad, halfway through my sophormore year, who has done all of my aspirations. Well, 5 outta 6. Holistic health counselor, raw vegan chef from Living Light, went to Gabriel Cousens, can do well over 3 pull ups, jump off high cliffs, and do fucking back flips off of trees.. and gives food to homeless people.. and is.. ya know.. a fucking angel.

The universe sent me a superhero, whose time spent with me is always short, (or at least seems short), sweet, and much needed. Containing all of the superhero qualities I desire, like strength, and the know how to save the world.

All I want to do now is accomplish my goals and inspire others by doing what I love. Because, from dealing frusteratingly with my sister and observing sick people that I care about, a superhero can’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved, no matter how great their powers.

We possess the most complex superpower. At my early stages of aspiring to be a superhero, I had no idea how complex our powers really could be.

They mess with peoples culture, their belief system, their comfort zones, and their habits. Though our superpower is extremely effective, it only works if the necessary individual accepts the stages of behavioral change.

I can’t help people. People help people. As my mom says a hundred times over,

So- that being said- it is very difficult to not be a frusterated crazy person about veganism!

Is that a superpower maybe? Speaking up when necessary? Where’s the line between obnoxious/ anti social and effective and life saving? Where’s the line between being weird because you don’t see your friends as often as you used to, or as you should, or being fucking awesome for being inspired and loving what your doing and having enough passion to enjoy doing you and accomplishing more and more goals everyday?!

I am struggling with this idea, this balance. It seems I have been seeing people who are excited and passionate about the same things as I am lately. I do want to see old friends and have close relationships, but they seem to be slowly fading. At first I was really upset about it, but lately, eh, I suppose people are always changing, and as we grow older new relationships form that resonate more and more with who we grow up to be. Which is nice 🙂 I met incredible friends at the Thai Fruit Fest! Its weird coming back from school for the summer. And its weird being all of a sudden so fucking inspired and passionate with saving the world and inspiring people and getting stronger and smashing it.

I don’t mean to be anti social or antisocial seeming. But with veganism, and that weird superpower I was talking about about speaking up, ya know? I think that a perfect situation can be a perfect opportunity. There are times when it is ok to say true to yourself and be honest (like when asked), and there are times when it is necessary to keep your mouth shut. I will never give anyone a hard time. And I hope nobody gives me a hard time! I am open to eating animal products if I so desire, honestly. (which I haven’t desired in a while! haha) It is the people who need to be saved who I am worried about.

All in all, I am the happiest luckiest girl in the world. A huge shout out to friends ❤ I am so lucky to have many great people in my life. I have a superhero, not a boyfriend.. but I know he loves to make me laugh. 😉 And I can’t wait to accomplish everything on my list. I’m certainly working on it ❤

Red Velvet Rocky Road LoveCakes

The Red Velvet:

1 15 oz can of chickpeas (rinsed and drained) or 3/4 to 1 cup cooked chickpeas (If using dried chickpeas: rinse and soak dried chickpeas- saturate them fully in filtered water and cover. Place in the refrigerator overnight. Pour soaked chickpeas with soaking water into a pot and bring to a boil. Once brought to a boil, reduce heat to medium and let simmer for at least an hour, add water as necessary. Rinse and measure 3/4-1 cup.)

The Rocky Road:

1/4 tsp salt (optional- if using sweetened chocolate chips, or to taste)

2 T chopped walnuts

1 T cacao nibs, carob, or chocolate chips

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line mini muffin tray with muffin liners (I really like the brand “If You Care”)

In a food processor, add all ingredients except the chopped walnuts, and chocolate chips until batter is smooth. Fold in chocolate chips and chopped walnuts. Super delicious to nom with a spoon just like this!!!

Spoon about 1 Tbs of batter into each muffin liner. Combine rocky road ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. Dollop each lovecake with a touch of rocky road. Bake for about 20 minutes. May look underdone- but rather be moist and ooey than dried out! Also- no scary ingredients in here to worry about being undercooked! Can be eaten raw! 😀

Let cool for about 10 minutes before indulging!

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Hi, I’m Katie Reines, MS, RD.

Ahh sweet food freedom. A life of confidence, radiant energy, glowing skin, productivity, and balance. I am a registered dietitian here to help you experience the life your beautiful body deserves through holistic health and nutritional counseling.

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Hi, I’m Katie Reines, MS, RD.

Ahh sweet food freedom. A life of confidence, radiant energy, glowing skin, productivity, and balance. I am a registered dietitian here to help you experience the life your beautiful body deserves through holistic health and nutritional counseling.

Follow Blog via Email

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.